It's easy to point to Daniel Murphy's second inning error as the reason for the Mets' 2-1 loss to the Marlins on Sunday. Johan Santana struck out 13, gave up just three hits and the Marlins probably wouldn't have scored at all if Murphy hadn't butchered a ball off Cody Ross' bat. Murphy deserves no absolution, but he also doesn't deserve all of the blame.
As mentioned, Santana only gave up the three hits and was masterful. His lineup didn't do anything to help the cause either. The Mets were 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position, dropping their average to .220 in those situations for the young season. They're scoring more than five runs a game, so it's not worth getting overly excited about any particular situational hitting. Mets fans did spend the offseason bemoaning the lack of clutch hitting, however, so it's likely that more than a few of them have noticed.
In his comments following the game on Sunday, Santana brought up the thin margin that cost the Mets a playoff spot last season. Implicit in that comment was an allusion to the many strong Santana performances that the Mets wasted last season. Yes, it's just six games into the season, but the Mets only get to throw Johan so many times in a season so it doesn't behoove them to support him with anything less than their best effort.
Regardless of when in the season it is, you have to win games when Santana pitches the way he did on Sunday. That's not overreacting or panic or anything but the plain, simple truth.
There's no point in the baseball season where you can draw a line and start caring about poor defense or poor hitting with ducks on the pond. Those things always matter and failing at them will always cost you games that you can and should be winning.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
